#TBRChallenge 2020: A Rake for Christmas

The Book: A Rake for Christmas by Ann Lethbridge

The Particulars: Harlequin Historical Undone, historical romance short story, 2011, available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I like short reads, which means I gobbled up quite a few of these Undones and their spicier sister, Spice Briefs, back in the day.  The blurb tickled my fancy and I've enjoyed Lethbridge's work in the past.  Plus, hello - a Christmas read.

The Review: The Day Job has been something the past couple of weeks and partially because of that I've been struggling with reading. I had picked out an entirely different book this month, a Christmas SuperRomance that has been in my TBR since 2007 (!) but I wasn't feeling it, I was starting to get annoyed, and work being what it is I wasn't up for powering through a book that was likely going to end up a C read at best. So out of desperation I hit my digital TBR and found this Undone that I had yet to read (and it may be the last one in the pile!).

Lady Eugenie Hardwick made the mistake of falling for the wrong man. Shenanigans happened and he talked, causing a scandal that had to be hushed up and her banishment. Worse still?  She liked those shenanigans, making her a true wanton.  Now she's living away from her family, who no longer acknowledge her, in a duplex-style home.  On the other side of the VERY thin walls is Lord Richard Townsend who is a rake.  Eugenie has lost track of the women she's seen coming and going - and for that matter hearing coming and going. Which is leaving Eugenie all hot and bothered with no other recourse than to take matters into her own hands - wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Richard is getting distracted by the spinster next door. They've been exchanging slightly acerbic, witty letters back and forth (mostly about her cat sneaking under the hedge into his side of the garden....) and just as she can hear him with his latest opera singer mistress?  Um, he can hear her taking matters into her own hands - wink, wink, nudge, nudge.  Surely this will not do. An heir with no desire to settle down anytime soon, the spinster next door is not paramour material.  That is until she shows up late one evening to deliver an urgent message that was accidentally delivered to her by mistake.

We all know what happens next. And naturally since this is an Undone short story, it's definitely spicier than the typical Harlequin Historical offering.  I'm a sucker for heroines with dubious reputations and Eugenie is severely hot and bothered by this point - meaning she rather throws herself into the proceedings.  Richard is all rake, and isn't about to let this golden opportunity pass him by. Naturally what happens between them is something more.  Eugenie is now concerned about extracting a promise from Richard that he won't blab about their interlude to anyone and Richard?  Well he's more concerned about properly wooing and courting Eugenie - our boy has fallen.

I like to read short, so I'm not usually one to say "I wish this story was longer...." - but well, I wish this story was longer.  Eugenie's fall from grace is just lightly dusted over, and the timing between Richard breaking off with his latest mistress and bedding Eugenie is lightning quick.  Um, as in the same evening.  Opera Singer wants a deeper relationship, Richard says no, she throws things and storms out.  A few minutes later here's Eugenie showing up on his doorstep with the wrongly delivered message.  So, yeah.  A longer story would have meant more "courtship" through those acerbic, witty letters, and a few more palatable pages between Richard's assignations. 

It also would have meant the Happy For Now ending would have spun out a bit more.  I have no doubt these two will stay together, but there's a dynamite set-up for a Fake Relationship/Engagement which would have mined the respective family baggage for both Richard and Eugenie.

But it's a short story, and that's what it is.  It's problematic in some areas, but I enjoyed Lethbridge's writing and I enjoyed the story.  Plus it allowed me to finish the 2020 TBR Challenge by actually reading something in full.

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2020: His Secret and Their Secret

Admittedly I had an entirely different book picked out for this month's Challenge, but when I still hadn't read a single word of it as of Monday I knew 2020 had struck again. With my concentration continuing to be shot I knew I was going to have to leave my print TBR in favor for my digital TBR and find a novella that fit this month's Series theme. What I found was the Secret Pleasures quartet by Portia Da Costa and just to be an overachiever for a change - I read the first two.

The Book: His Secret by Portia Da Costa

The Particular: Erotic romance novella, originally published as The Retreat 2009, self-published edition 2014, eBook only, book 1 in series

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Da Costa has been an autobuy for me for as long as I've been reading erotic romance. Um, that's a long time y'all!

The Review: Sarah met Ben at work, and they've been quietly dating for a while. Truly, he's the perfect boyfriend: dashing, charming, considerate, and good in bed.  Really, what more could a girl want?  But Sarah can't help having this feeling like something is missing.  And she finds out what it is when Ben whisks her away on a weekend getaway at the posh boutique hotel, The Retreat.  Because wouldn't you know it?  The Retreat is one of those quietly naughty hotels that cater to their guests every need (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). And perfect boyfriend Ben is, well, kinky. This turns out to be OK because Sarah discovers she likes it very much indeed when Ben is, well, kinky.

This is a short read, only clocking in around 50 pages. Even at that page count I wasn't disappointed in things like character development. Do you get to crawl around in the dark, deep recesses of their minds?  No. But they're an established couple and I got enough internal musings to not feel like the marriage proposal at the end of the story was a huge rush.  The erotic elements are what I would classify as light BDSM. There's spanking, there's a blindfold, there's some sex toys. I'm read tamer, I've read kinkier. 

Did this story change my life? Well, no. That's Wendy speak for "It was fine." But it was a quick read that made me feel like I managed to accomplish something.  Also, I wasn't upset that I had the next 3 novellas in  my TBR.

Final Grade = C+

The Book: Their Secret by Portia Da Costa

The Particulars: Erotic romance novella, originally part of Mastered box set (no longer available), self-published edition 2014, eBook only, book 2 in series

The Review: Maggie Jenkins has met a man she only knows as "Mr. Jones" in a kink chat room. The online correspondence has been going on for a while, long enough for them to float the idea of actually meeting in person. Maggie works, and is friends, with Sarah from the first book and she recommends Maggie meet her mystery man at The Retreat. Between their reputation and their security, it's the safe bet.  Maggie almost chickens out, but decides she has to know - so she heads for the rendezvous.  What she gets is the surprise of her life when she finds out who "Mr. Jones" really is.

This is slightly longer, at around 80 pages, and I think the story is better for it.  It's obvious who Mr. Jones is going to turn out to be once Da Costa tips her hand - but given the short word count that's expected.  This is, once again, light BDSM with spanking, blindfolds, and some outdoor sex to round out the shenanigans.  What keeps this from being a retread of book 1, just with different characters, is that Da Costa gives readers a glimpse of the fall-out afterward.  Once our couple leaves the secluded hideaway of The Retreat, having explored their kinky desires, how will that translate once they're back to "their real world."  Especially given who Mr. Jones turns out to be.

This was another quick, sexy read and the final chapters really tie it all together.

Final Grade = B

#TBRChallenge 2020: Lawman on the Hunt

The Book: Lawman on the Hunt by Cindi Myers

The Particulars: Romantic Suspense, Harlequin Intrigue #1649, 2016, part of series, out of print, available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR: My catalog notes on this book were non-existent, but I have an autographed print copy which means I more than likely picked this up at a conference - probably RWA 2016 (San Diego). 

The Review: I will die on the hill that Harlequin Intrigue is the hardest category romance line to pull off successfully.  They're in the ballpark of 240 pages and the author has to pull off both the romance and suspense. But when Intrigues are done well?  Oh, they're heaven. Fast-paced, exciting, back when I was traveling I called them the perfect "airplane reads."  Unfortunately while Lawman on the Hunt had it's moments, there were elements of the romance and the suspense that annoyed me.

Special Agent Travis Steadman is part of an FBI task force tracking down a known terrorist, Duane Braeswood.  It's his job, but it's also personal.  Duane's lady love is Leah Carlisle, who used to be engaged to Travis before she left him for Braeswood, leaving behind a Dear John letter and dropping off the map (quit her job, moved out of her apartment, disconnected her cell phone etc.).  The FBI moves in to infiltrate the compound but naturally it all goes sideways.  A shoot-out goes down, Travis arrests Leah, and they take off into the surrounding wilderness with the bad guys in hot pursuit.

Leah did not leave Travis willingly - Braeswood targeted her. He threatened both the lives of her sister and Travis.  When Sis ends up dead, Leah does everything the man says.  Quits her job working for a Senator, signs over her assets (her dead parents left her financially well-off), and lives the life of a hostage.  Now she just has to convince Travis that she's a victim and not a willing accomplice.

This is a cat-and-mouse style Intrigue with our couple on the run in the Colorado wilderness by the second chapter.  I love man vs. elements story lines, where the couple has to forage for food, boil water so it's safe to drink, travel over rough terrain all while evading the bad guys.

Blessedly Travis realizing that Leah is a victim and not a femme fatale is sorted out fairly quickly. Unfortunately I was less enamored with the moments in the story where Leah is reassuring Travis over his hurt feelings. Look, I get he's had a hard time - but girlfriend is the victim here, being held hostage by a man who forced himself on on her and murdered her sister.  I'm a heck of lot less concerned about Travis's man fee-fees than I am with Leah's ordeal.

The plot is exciting and fast-paced although it gets a little absurd at the end when Braeswood catches up with our couple.  Also the whole thing was a bit too loosey-goosey for me and I'm assuming some of this stuff is ironed out in the other books in the series.  I get that Leah worked for a Senator, but WHY exactly did Braeswood think she was a good target?  What exactly is Braeswood's motive and end-goal.  I mean, yeah a terrorist and I get that some men just want to "watch the world burn" but terrorist organizations tend to have some sort of ideology.  It all comes down to motive for me - I want motive in suspense stories and this just wasn't fleshed out enough for me in this book.  But like I said, maybe in the other books in the series.

So yeah.  This was fine, and it was a quick easy read - but there were things that bugged me and it didn't light a fire under me to continue on with the series.  I'd probably try another book by this author though.

Final Grade = C-

#TBRChallenge 2020: Terms of Surrender

The Book: Terms of Surrender by Leslie Kelly

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Blaze #616, 2011, Out of print, Available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I have an autographed print copy and my cataloging notes indicate I got it at RWA 2011.  Yes, I'm aware that was 9 years ago.  It was also Wendy's Librarian of the Year year!  Anyway, Wendy at a conference, category romances being given out like Halloween candy, of course this was buried in the depths of my TBR.

The Review: For this month's Dress for Success theme I was thinking of going with a glitzy Harlequin Presents, but as I was randomly grabbing at books in my Harlequin TBR pile (yes, I have my own cabinet just for the Harlequins because of course I do....) I randomly picked up this book featuring a Navy pilot hero who has ambitions to become an astronaut.  A man in uniform?  Well that certainly applies to this month's theme!  And he's quite the hero!  Too bad I wanted to smack the heroine into next Tuesday.

Marissa Marshall has a newly minted PhD in psychology and needs a job. She wrote two successful humorous self-help books thanks to her dating blog Mad-Mari.com but the money is running out and a girl's gotta pay rent, eat, you know important stuff.  She's on her way to a job interview at the Naval Academy where she'd be a civilian contractor, teaching cadets. Her PhD was on the the effect a military life can have on relationships and families - so she ends up getting the job.  She also ends up finding Mr. Perfect.

Mr. Perfect is Danny Wilkes, Navy pilot.  But when Mari meets him he's dressed like a mechanic and that's what she takes him for.  They spend time together, sparks fly, sexy times occur, and it's all going great guns until Danny arrives outside her classroom (for reasons) wearing his dress whites (needing to make a good impression and needing to apologize to Mari for reasons).  Crap - he's a Navy man?!  Because apparently meeting him at the Naval Academy and him mentioning his "dress whites" in passing wasn't enough to clue her in.  This will not do.  Yes the sex was fantastic, yes he's got a dream personality, yes he's hot enough to peel wallpaper - but Mari has sworn to never, ever get involved with a man in uniform because - you guessed it - Mommy and Daddy.  Daddy who was career military and couldn't keep it in his pants.  Mommy who melted down, had her own affair, then promptly left Daddy and abandoned her three children.  Mari, being the oldest, raised her two younger siblings - because while Daddy could provide he wasn't a demonstrative father.

So we all know where this is going right?  Danny is literally Dreamboat Hero material but Mari tars and feathers him because of her childhood. Never mind that Danny does absolutely nothing over the course of this story to make anyone with two brain cells to rub together think that he is anything REMOTELY like Dear Old Dad.  When this guy screws up, he apologizes, he explains, he's contrite.  And his screw-ups are of the variety of "oh crap I dropped my phone in the harbor and lost your phone number" not "oh crap my penis fell into a 21-year-old I met at the bar."

A series of circumstances soon find Danny and Mari spending time together - they genuinely like each other, the sex is great, their feelings are growing stronger and then we get to the end.  When Mari stomps all over Danny's heart on the night he gets REALLY BIG NEWS and she scurries off because of Dear Old Dad and Abandonment Mommy.  Even though Danny is LITERALLY PERFECT! I JUST CAN'T WITH THIS CHILD!

Anyway, the one saving grace here is that Danny fires back with both barrels, calls her a coward, and gives a speech that distilled down to it's essence is basically, "I'm done."  Now this would be the part of the story where most readers with taste would want Mari to go running back to Danny, in bare feet over broken glass, to grovel mightily.  No.  Instead she types it up on her blog that she's a frickin' moron, Danny reads it, and then HE goes to HER!  And then they live happily ever after and I want to punch someone in the face.

Sigh.

Also, there's a lot of pop culture references a la 2011 that just aren't going to age well the longer time marches on (Britney Spears, Dancing with the Stars, Twilight, the heroine making money off her blog....).  Authors and editors seem to think this makes a story more hip and "relatable," especially to the coveted younger reading demographic and really?  All it does is age a contemporary story at a rapid, exponential pace.  A peeve of mine - maybe not for everybody.

But it is fast and breezy with a lot of banter.  I read it in one sitting which is a dang miracle right now.  But this heroine y'all.  I just couldn't with this child. 

Final Grade = D

#TBRChallenge 2020: Pencil Him In

The Book: Pencil Him In by Molly O'Keefe

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Flipside #15, 2004, Book 2 in duet, out of print, available in digital

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR: It's a truth universally acknowledged that when Wendy falls hard and fast for a new-to-her category romance writer, she will then scour the Earth for said author's entire backlist. Which is what happened after I picked up my first O'Keefe Harlequin SuperRomance. Yes, I bought the romantic comedy stuff she wrote for Harlequin Duets and Flipside despite that they were published by Duets and Flipside.  My history with romantic comedy is bumpy.

The Review: I read the second book in this duet as part of the 2015 TBR Challenge so this month's backlist theme seemed like a good opportunity to read the first book...5 years later. Don't hate the player, hate the game.  Anyway, this was only O'Keefe's third published book and unfortunately I was pretty meh about it. I probably would have tolerated the plot a lot more had I read this any other time in the years this has been languishing in my TBR, but 2020 was the absolutely worst year to pick.  Let me explain....

Anna Simmons is a workaholic. At 18 she told her nomad, runaway-from-her-problems, mother that she was now an adult, she was done moving, and she was staying in California. She got a job as a receptionist at an ad agency and worked her way up.  How far up?  Her boss, the owner of the agency, has told Anna she's retiring in 6 months and she's going to hand over the keys to the kingdom to her - on one condition: Anna is taking a forced, paid, 6 month sabbatical.  No arguments. Non-negotiable.  Her boss is worried that if she leaves the company to her that Anna will literally end up dead. She works that hard. She runs herself (and her poor assistant) that ragged. She has no life.

And Anna freaks out.

OK, look - maybe this is the stress of being a public librarian in the time of COVID talking - but WHY IS MY BOSS NOT GIVING ME 6 MONTHS OFF WITH PAY AND DIRECT ORDERS TO DO ZERO WORK AND GET A DARN LIFE? I get that Anna is a workaholic but wide swaths of this book are her moaning about how she's been "fired" (does she not know the definition of the word fired?) and she's wound so tight I half expected a bathroom scene where she's pooping out diamonds.

Naturally all Anna can think about is getting her job back (never mind she's not fired and on a paid 6 month sabbatical - just roll with it).  So her brilliant idea is to show her boss (who she is friendly with) that she is getting life, that she has a boyfriend! She just needs a fake boyfriend, and through a series of misadventures she lands on hunky, ex-firefighter (he was injured in the line of duty) Sam Drynan.

Sam is - OK, I guess? A nice guy, I guess? He's got a well-meaning family, he's still dealing with baggage from his work-related injury and he won't play second fiddle to Anna's work (when she, predictably, falls off the deep end for our Black Moment).  As a couple they're not on page very much together but O'Keefe does have me half believing they've fallen in love, at least a little bit, by the end.

Besides the "conflict" which isn't really conflict and I'm frankly covetous of, I think my problem may be the Flipside line.  The romantic couple just aren't on page enough to satisfy my romance reader needs. This is really a book about Anna's personal growth with the romance not coming into play until the second half.  And this is category length.  Waiting until the second half of a book that clocks in at just over 200 pages to give readers a romance (which they're reading a Harlequin - readers showed up for the romance) probably says all that needs to be said on why this line died a quick death.  It's closer to the chick lit end of the spectrum and not far enough over towards the romance one.

The internal baggage for both Anna and Sam is decent. However Sam's baggage is dealt with superficially and Anna's - I get why the girl is a workaholic but I still can't help but think her moaning about being fired WHEN SHE HASN'T BEEN FIRED is weak sauce. Look, I get it - her entire self-worth is wrapped up in her job. Childhood trauma has molded her into the diamond pooping mess she is today.  BUT SOMEONE IS GIVING YOU 6 MONTHS OFF WITH PAY AND THEN TURNING OVER THE BUSINESS TO YOU AND YOU'RE MOANING ABOUT IT?!?!?!?!?

Where can I sign up for this problem?

Final Grade = C

#TBRChallenge: The Cowboy's Rebellious Bride

The Book: The Cowboy's Rebellious Bride by Laurie LeClair

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Tule Publishing, 2017, 1st book in The McCall Brothers series, in print and available in digital

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR: At RWA 2017 (Orlando) I kept running into this man at the various publisher signings. Turns out he was Laurie LeClair's husband, we chatted (as you do while standing in lines at conferences) and being a good husband, was his wife's biggest fan. He was hitting the signings to get her books while she was attending various workshops.  Anyway, I told him I'd swing by his wife's table at the big Literacy Signing to buy a book - because I'd never read her before and when I attend signings I try to buy at least one book by a new-to-me author.

The Review: Ever know almost immediately, like within the first chapter, that a book ain't for you? Yeah, that was my experience here.  It's Small Town Southern-Fried Hell. It reminded me a bit of the the only Carolyn Brown romance I've ever attempted, albeit LeClair wasn't as heavy-handed with her comic-relief secondary characters.  So why did I keep reading?  This month's TBR Challenge snuck up on me, this is basically a category romance (my print copy is 238 pages), and while this book is totally not my thing, I can see how it could be "their thing" for other readers.

Cody McCall was on the rodeo circuit until his grandmother takes ill and he's called home.  Gran has  now passed, his Gramps a shadow of his former self, and the family ranch is mortgaged up to their eyeballs (Gran's medical bills...). Cody breezes back into town after riding the range, hits the local bar (named The Giddy Up - because sure, why not) and kicks the party into high gear. Cody is Mr. Life of the Party. Mr. Never Settle Down - especially not after he learned the ugly truth about his almost-wife about a year ago. It's at the bar he runs into his BFF, Hannah Prescott, also not one for settling down.  Hannah is living hand to mouth, trying to get one of her bulls on one of the top rodeo circuits, living in a rented room with two spinster busy-bodies, and trying to reconcile that she has "more than friends" feelings for Cody.  But those feelings scare the hell out of her - namely because "they're friends" and her parents' marriage didn't make her a big believer in true love.

This is where it gets stupid. So Hannah ties one on, but has to sneak back into her rented room because of the spinster busy body landlords.  I just - is this 2017 or 1817?  Anyway, the spinsters wake up, Hannah's fearful that this will be the final straw and they'll kick her out. She literally can't afford anything else. So Cody blurts out that they're engaged. Well this is small town Texas, so word gets around fast and behold! His Gramps is like his old self again! There's a twinkle in his eye!  So these two knuckleheads decide to keep the charade going for a little longer.  Of course extracting themselves out of this fake engagement is thought through about as well as this plot set-up.

That's pretty much it for conflict. Cody doesn't want to settle down and neither does Hannah. And the spinsters are there to provide 1817-style comic relief in the form of being "chaperones."  Seriously.  And once they start doing that, suddenly Cody and Hannah are finding all sorts of ways to escape their watchful eyes to spend time alone together.  I just - am I reading about adults or am I reading about 13-year-olds?

It smooths out a bit once the spinsters are dispatched, and the wedding (OK sorry, minor spoiler there) takes place several chapters prior before the ending.  The sexy times are closed door, the conflict light, the humor about as subtle as a sledgehammer and then we get the grand gesture at the end - which Hannah's the one to fall on this sword.  It's actually not bad - in theory.  Except why she thought Cody would be mad at her after boggles my mind. Also, there's something about the heroine making a Sacrificing Grand Gesture for the hero that just doesn't work as well for me.  Sorry folks, it just doesn't.  Cody is clueless, it's not like he twists Hannah's arm, she acts independently - but it just...bothers me OK?  Hannah takes a bullet for the McCall family and the author sells it like Hannah wants to make this choice but - it just bothers me OK?  I recognize that mileage will vary on this though. 

So yeah, not my thing.  The spinster landlords, the low level hijinks, the various small town-isms.  But I did zip through it in a couple of hours.  If broad humor and small town ranching meets friends to lovers is your jam - maybe this will work better for you than it did for me.

Final Grade = D+

#TBRChallenge 2020: Blissful Summer

The Book: Blissful Summer by Cheris Hodges and Lisa Marie Perry

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Kimani Romance, 2015, Out of Print, Not Available in Digital

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: My print copy looks brand new, but it's not autographed and I went almost exclusively digital with Harlequin well before 2015. Best guess is that I snagged it in a conference goody room.  I'm at conference + Harlequin not tied down = of course I grabbed it.

The Review: This month's optional theme is Getaway, and I decided to interpret that as "vacation destination."  Make You Mine Again by Cheris Hodges kicks off this anthology with a reunion romance set in Atlanta, New York, Paris and Jamaica.

Jansen Douglas is an in-demand supermodel who is preparing for the next phase of her career.  She's not getting any younger, and realizing the shelf-life for models, has visions of opening up her own agency.  But first she needs to attend her BFF's wedding in Paris.  The fly in the ointment?  Her BFF's brother, Bradley Stephens, is the one that got away.  Well, more like she showed him the door.  She supported Bradley's dreams and ambitions, but when she told him she wanted to kick-start a career in modelling - well, it didn't go well.  She left him, and neither one has gotten over it.

This story only clocks in at 100 pages, and the couple doesn't actually land on page together until the halfway point.  Which, I know this is a reunion romance, but it's still a problem.  So what's happening in the first 50 pages?  A lot of info-dumping, setting up a Big Misunderstanding and secondary character introductions that felt like series filler to me.  But then I can't find any mention online that this is actually a series?  So that means it felt like a series idea that the author cut back to fit a 100 page novella and it just didn't work for me.  There's too much here for a novella. Also, to be perfectly blunt, I completely understood why Jansen walked away from Bradley all those years ago and I'm wholly unconvinced he's "changed" and seen the light.  Jansen is a fierce heroine and gurl, you could do so much better.  

Grade = C

There's a bit of plot absurdity in Unraveled by Lisa Marie Perry but there are some nice moments in this novella.  Ona Tracy was a scholarship kid at her prestigious Philadelphia performing arts school with Most Likely to Succeed written all over her - but life has not spun out as planned.  She gave up Broadway dreams for a worthless man, then her career in advertising took a hit when she fell for a double-crossing colleague.  She's at a low ebb, but has managed to convince her former high school that she's the event planner who can tackle the Glee Club's 10-year reunion.  She's got big plans to seduce her high school crush who has turned out to be Mr. Successful Stability. She just needs it all to go off without a hitch and survive her Mean Girl Nemesis.  But trouble starts brewing right away when the ship she booked turns out to be an "erotic cruise" to the Bahamas.  But our gal is determined to make lemonade out of lemons, and no sooner does she start exploring the ship than she makes the steamy acquaintance of ex-Marine, Riker Ewan.  Sparks fly immediately with this working class bartender from Boston, but wouldn't you know?  There's more to Riker than meets the eye.

I'm a bit of a sucker for high school reunion stories, and Perry does some interesting things with her cast of secondary characters.  The high school crush who didn't notice Ona back in the day, the propositioning jerk that Ona has to smack down repeatedly, but it's the Mean Girl Nemesis that's really interesting.  She's uppity and prickly to Ona's pure sassy goodness.  The scenes between these two are great, especially at the end when insecurities come pouring out.  The chemistry with Riker is also good, and I'm a sucker for a blue-collar hero paired with a polished heroine like Ona.  Ona's life might not be great at the moment, but she's a never let 'em see you sweat sort - again, extremely attractive in a romance heroine.

The issue is conflict. Ona's conflict, the high school reunion cast, the botched cruise booking - more than enough to power a 100 page novella.  Riker really could have just been a guy going on a cruise after getting stood up by a woman.  But no.  Riker has a Big Secret and he's on the cruise for other half-baked reasons entirely - which of course means family baggage. It's too much. The Riker baggage feels completely unnecessary - Ona's is more than enough to carry the show.  Still, a fun read and frankly a bloody shame that Perry doesn't seem to be writing anymore.  If anyone can tell me otherwise, I'd love to hear it.

Grade = B-

While I wasn't madly in love with this short anthology, it did the trick of kick-starting my flagging reading mojo.  Presumably it's not available anymore because rights have reverted back to the authors.  I'd like to see what Hodges could do with her characters if she spun them out into an entire family series and the Perry story has some fun moments.  Hopefully digital reprints are on the horizon.

Overall Final Grade = C+

#TBRChallenge 2020: The Lady's Companion

The Book: The Lady's Companion by Carla Kelly

The Particulars: Traditional Regency, Signet, 1996, Out of print, available in digital edition

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and ebooks weren't "a thing," books went out of print - sometimes quickly. If you didn't buy a category romance or Trad Regency the month it was released you were then at the mercy of scouring used bookstores. Given how many trad fans rave about Kelly, I made it a point to always buy her books when I stumbled across them in used bookstores. So they then, of course, could languish in my TBR.

The Review: I fell for romance just as the Trad Regency was gasping it's last few breaths and it's not a sub genre I gravitate towards naturally.  In those early days I was drawn to westerns, got burnt out on the Regency era just as Light Historicals were glutting the market, got my head turned by erotic romance and my love of short, tight reads fixated on short contemporary category romance.  But I got in the habit of buying up Carla Kelly and Mary Balogh books as I stumbled across them during used bookstore jaunts.  It's been an indecent age since I've read a Trad and boy howdy - this one was a gem!

Miss Susan Hampton is an old maid of twenty-five who has been patiently waiting for her come out that her father has been promising for years upon years.  The problem is that Daddy is a degenerate gambler.  They're still in their London house by the skin of their teeth, with barely any servants left, not enough coal to keep them warm, and furniture being sold off bit by bit until, you guessed, Daddy loses the house in a turn of the cards.  They have no choice but to move in with her father's sister, a woman who in no uncertain terms says she has the futures of her own daughters to secure.  Susan sees her life stretching out before her.  Her father determined to keep them on this long, slow road to ruin, their name whispered about among the ton, a poor relation who will be her Aunt's fetch-and-carry girl.  What man will want a woman with no dowry and a father-in-law who would surely bleed him dry?  Her father is horrified when Susan suggests he might, oh, get a job (good Lord, their kind do NOT work!) and fed up with her destiny being left to the whims of others - she decides she's going to get a job.

She lands as a lady's companion to the Dowager Lady Bushnell, a hard-as-tack widow who followed her husband, a colonel, across the continent on various campaigns and raised two children.  Her husband, son and daughter all gone, she's living in the country determined to keep her independence much to the chagrin of her daughter-in-law who wants to see her cossetted and well cared for in her old age.  But the dowager is made of sterner stuff and has chased off a few companions already.  What Susan needs is an ally - who appears in the form of the bailiff, David Wiggins.  A former sergeant under Lord Bushnell's command, he owes the Bushnells his life.  He takes one look at Susan and inevitably, sparks fly.

Original cover art

What we have here is a romance novel for grown-ups.  Characters who have real problems and don't act like flibbertigibbets.  Coy verbal flirting between the hero and heroine.  And honest-to-goodness obstacles true to the time period and not swept under the rug.  Susan's family name is most definitely tattered but her blood is still blue and David?  Welsh, raised in an orphanage, a former poacher and thief who found himself on the continent fighting Napoleon and being disciplined at the end of a whip when the Dowager intervened.  Even if you disregard Susan's useless relations, the classism alone is enough worthy romantic conflict to propel a whole shelf full of novels, let alone a tightly plotted, song-worthy 200 page Regency.

It sagged a tiny bit in the middle for me, but Kelly pulls out all the stops with an emotionally gut-churning finish.  There's a moment at the final chapters when Susan's aunt does something so heartbreaking I wanted to shove my hands through the pages and happily throttle the woman.  And the *chef's kiss* Black Moment between Susan and David - when words are spoken in anger and the reader KNOWS by this point how perfect they are together, how deeply in love, and it was like Kelly ripped my heart from my chest and happily danced a jig on it before resuscitating me back to life with a swoony happy ending.

I'm not doing this book justice, but take my word for it - it's so, so good.  It's a minor miracle that cooler heads prevailed and I didn't stay up half the night to finish it (but only because I literally could no longer keep my eyes open).  Mature, lovely, wonderfully romantic with a pitch-perfect hero and a heroine with gumption in an era when that would not have been easy.  When I finished I wanted to turn back to Chapter One and fall back into this world all over again.

Final Grade = A

#TBRChallenge 2020: The Lady Flees Her Lord

The Book: The Lady Flees Her Lord by Ann Lethbridge

The Particulars: Historical romance, 2008, Sourcebooks, Out of Print, Rights Reverted / Available Self-published digital edition

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: According to my notes I picked up the Sourcebooks edition of this historical romance (published under the author's Michele Ann Young name) at RWA 2009 (Washington D.C.). So yes, this book has been in my TBR for over 10 years. Don't hate the player, hate the game.  Anyway, I know I picked this up because, if memory serves, Sourcebooks was fairly new to the whole romance thing at the time and I knew that Young was also Ann Lethbridge, who I was familiar with from her work with Harlequin Historical.  So taking a flier to pick up this book, for free, seemed like a safe bet.  Ahem, even if it did languish in my TBR for 10 years....

The Review: I haven't read many historical romances so far in 2020 and this one went down like comfort food.  Like if macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes had a baby.  It didn't hold a lot of surprises, and it gets a wee melodramatic at the end, but the pages easily turned and I liked the characters.  It didn't change my life, but believe me I've stumbled on way worse lurking in the depths of my TBR.

Lucinda, Lady Denbigh is married to a vile man. Oh she once thought she was so lucky - a plump, full-figured gal who bagged a handsome, very eligible man - only to discover he only wanted her for her father's money and to be a broodmare.  Years into the marriage, she's barren, he berates her as a cold fish, and heaps emotional abuse on her.  Worse still, his gambling is out of control and he's fallen in with a distasteful crowd.  She has no choice but to flee in the middle of the night.

Through a series of happenstance she picks up an orphaned infant girl along the way.  Yes, it's the height of melodrama but stick with me here.  Anyway, Lucinda tries to find the child's "mother" fast because she needs to get the heck out of London.  But that doesn't happen, there's no time, and the idea of placing the child in a foundling home turns her stomach.  She's ached to become a mother, so why not now?  Plus the kid provides a certain amount of camouflage. Lady Denbigh, after all, is barren.

Original Cover

She ends up in Kent, renting the dower house from Lord Hugo Wanstead, a fact he only learns after he nearly runs her daughter down with his horse.  Newly returned from the war, where he was injured, Hugo finds his country estate in disrepair thanks to Dear Old Dad.  His injury pains him, he's Brooding with a Capital B, and wants Lucinda gone - only to realize 1) she paid a year's worth rent in advance (which, that's explained) and 2) he's flat broke and his estate manager was desperate for the infusion of cash.

We all know where this is going.  Hugo and Lucinda are a perfect match but she is holding back the mother of all secrets and he's got emotional baggage up the wazoo thanks to his father and a dead wife.  He's in lust with Lucinda from the moment he lays eyes on her - he's a rather large man and she's all soft, lush curves in all the right places.  Soon she's bringing him out of his shell, he's playing Lord of the manor, and everybody in town is taken with her.  But wouldn't you know it? Her past comes back to haunt her. Because of course it does.

This was a quick one-day read for me (and it's single title length - so right book, right time - a true Calgon-take-me-away read) although anytime Lucinda's husband is on page it's a tough go.  I understand that infidelity is a non-starter for a lot of romance readers, but seriously this guy is such an a-hole that you want him to get absolutely everything that's coming to him.  His emotional abuse is hard to read, berating her for her weight, her frigidity, forcing her on a diet etc.  He's also prepared to essentially prostitute her out, which is ultimately what tips the scales to her fleeing in the dead of night. 

Extricating Lucinda from Denbigh was a definite factor in the speed in which I kept turning the pages. This was Regency England, so a woman divorcing a husband, albeit an abusive a-hole of a husband, would not have been easy (heck, it's not easy now) and Lethbridge puts a clever bow on that particular package.  Oh sure, it's the height of melodrama and a bit out of left field but it IS interesting and I'm down with interesting.

The sex scenes got a bit purple for my tastes, but I believe these two crazy kids are well-suited and well-matched, although Lucinda reverting back a bit at the end to damsel annoyed me a tinch.  I liked this world that Lethbridge created, and since republishing this book she's followed it up with a sequel about one of the heroine's brothers.  Good, not great, but time I don't regret spending.

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2020: Her Summer Crush

The Book: Her Summer Crush by Linda Hope Lee

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, 2016, Harlequin Heartwarming #134, out of print, available in digital, Book #2 in Return to Willow Beach series

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I had a print copy and it was autographed which means I picked this up at an RWA conference. 

The Review: This is going to be a damning with faint praise review. To be perfectly blunt, it was exactly the right book to read in this moment of my life, with the world on fire and any semblance of work/life balance I normally have getting chucked out a 15th floor window. It bares little resemblance to reality, which was just what I needed even if the story and writing itself are flawed.

Luci Monroe has just graduated college and landed her dream job back in her hometown of Willow Beach (somewhere vaguely Pacific Northwest) doing PR for the Chamber of Commerce.  Tourist-y magazines, brochures, promoting the local businesses - that sort of thing. She's super close to her family so returning to her hometown has always been in the cards.  Not in the cards? Cody Jarvis - the man she's had a crush on since high school.  The man who is now a world-class photographer, travels the world, who doesn't want to settle down in his quiet hometown. Turns out he's in-between gigs and has agreed to take a temporary summer job at the Chamber of Commerce as their go-to photographer. Oh, and Luci is going to be his boss.  Worse yet, her crush is still there, Cody is still as handsome as ever, and still doesn't know she exists other than they're "good friends."

That's basically it.  Luci has an unrequited crush. Cody actually likes her more than as "just a friend" but he's such a GUY it takes him the whole book to realize it.  There's a whole bunch of small town shenanigans - including eleventy billion characters (really, in book 2?!),  Luci navigating her new job/boss, getting saddled with a teenage intern, her family ties fraying at the seams, a wedding, a 4th of July celebration, a sandcastle building contest etc. etc. 

The romance itself is very slow and leisurely, but lacks spark.  It's a low-heat novel, which is fine - but even low-heat novels need something, and this romance is lukewarm to tepid.  (Note: you can still write passion even if you don't have a sex scene and there's nothing like that to speak of here). The first kiss scene is pretty decent and there's some nice dancing scenes but other than that?  Meh. I've read worse, I've read better.

But I kept flipping the pages and once I started reading I didn't come up for air. Even though this book lacks all semblance of reality.  It felt like Mayberry. Like the small town that everybody thinks exists but rarely does in real life.  The clincher for me was a moment in the story when the heroine buys three newspapers (two local-ish, one out of Seattle) to, ready for this?, CHECK THE HELP WANTED ADS!  In a book published in 2016.  In a local small town rag? Sure, maybe (even that strains at the seams of credibility) but SEATTLE?!?!?!?!

So if you want some semblance of reality? Yeah, not this book. If you want an escapist, Hallmark Movie-style setting completely devoid of reality however (and hello, see current events) this is a decent small town romance if you go for that sort of thing.  I found it pleasant, but otherwise meh.

Final Grade = C

#TBRChallenge 2019: A Temporary Arrangement

The Book: A Temporary Arrangement by Roxanne Rustand

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin SuperRomance #1362, 2006, book 3 in trilogy, out of print, not available digitally (at time of this review posting).

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: The used bookstore price stamp was still on the front cover.  My guess is I read a plot description somewhere (most likely RT Book Reviews) and it made me curious enough to pick up a copy.  It's the only book by this author I had in my print TBR and 2006 was before I converted my Harlequin spending habit to digital.

The Review: I had a brain fart this month and picked my read based on the incorrect assigned "optional" theme.  I still managed to make the Friends theme work with this book, but unfortunately that didn't elevate the story.  This one is a mess y'all.

Abby Cahill is a nursing instructor who is looking to brush up her resume with some more recent clinical experience prior to moving to California. She accepts a job offer at Blackberry Hill Memorial, a small hospital in picturesque small town summer tourist area Wisconsin.  The director of nursing is retiring and the replacement can't come on board until September.  Abby has agreed to serve as an interim director for the summer.

Unfortunately the apartment complex she was slated to move into has had a fire and now she has no place to live.  Tourist season is underway and housing options are limited to non-existent.  She rents a place from a cantankerous old coot with super-sonic hearing and she's quickly evicted thanks to her BFF's kids (more on that in a bit).  The answer to her prayers?  Ethan Matthews, a reclusive wildlife biologist who shows up in the ER needing emergency surgery.  Surgery that requires him to be evac'ed to The Big City hospital. That leaves his son without someone to watch him (Ethan's ex-wife is out of town on business), Abby steps in to watch the kid overnight, and eventually the arrangement is extended.

Lord above, where to start?  Abby rolls into town and takes the apartment from the cantankerous old coot because she's desperate. OK, fine. But she knows UP FRONT what sort of guy he is.  What does she do?  Volunteer to babysit her BFF's three kids (2 boys, 1 girl - all under the age of 12) who are described as "a handful."  Was her BFF in a bind?  Was there a dire emergency?  No.  BFF is pregnant and tired and Abby wants to help her out.  Look, nothing wrong with this. Admirable even.  BUT ABBY KNOWS WHAT SORT OF MAN HER LANDLORD IS!  Does she send the BFF off to a hotel out of town  to get away for a few days and watch the kids at her house?  No.  The boisterous brats spend the night at Abby's place and viola! Evicted. Plot contrivance right on cue...

I won't even get into the fact that her apartment burning down before she moves in and not a whiff of a mention of renter's insurance is discussed.  Who knows? Maybe she hadn't signed the lease yet?  Maybe she hadn't contacted the insurance company yet?  Loss of Use is something you think about when you've had to evac because of a wildfire - just sayin'.

When Ethan shows up in the ER they immediately pump him full of painkillers and he's adament about the hospital social worker not placing his kid in the system, even if it's temporary.  There's also NO DISCUSSION about locating another relative.  I mean, it's possible it's just Ethan, his ex-wife and the kid - but the "let's call a family member" suggestion isn't even mentioned.  Instead it's let this total stranger head of nursing watch my kid - here's the keys to my house.  All this after Ethan makes a snap judgement about Abby's parental skills (he thinks the BFFs "handful" kids are Abby's kids) which then leads to nonsense about "city girls" and "career girls" the rest of the frickin' story.  Shoot me now.

Besides the fact that Abby and Ethan aren't really on page together much (outside of the ER visit) until after page 70 (yes, a longer category romance but still - less than 300 pages y'all!) they don't spend an exorbitant amount of time together.  Abby's working.  Ethan is working and brooding.  There's his kid.  There's a pile of secondary characters.  Oh, and someone is lurking around Ethan's remote ranch sabotaging stuff and someone is out to discredit Abby at work.  So you've got two half-baked suspense threads wedged in with all the stuff that already isn't working.  When the couple decides they might have feelings for each other, I have to wonder...how, exactly?!? There's really no build up of the relationship to lead up to that point.

To be honest I should have DNF'ed this.  I pretty much knew 50 pages in that it wasn't going to work for me - but I'm in a dismal slump at the moment and wasn't left with enough time to complete the challenge.  Yeah, this could have been a DNF review, but soldier on and all that.  Done. Moving on. Hoping for better things on the horizon.

Final Grade = D-

#TBRChallenge 2020: The Greek's Nine-Month Redemption

The Book: The Greek's Nine-Month Redemption by Maisey Yates

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Presents, 2016, out of print, available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?:  Yates is an autobuy.  My print copy is autographed which means I picked this up at an RWA conference, although my cataloging notes are incomplete (my guess, probably the 2016 conference - which would have been San Diego).

The Review: Yates is such a pro at writing short contemporary that even when her books don't hit all the right buttons for me they're still highly readable.  I hadn't even picked out a TBR Challenge book until Sunday afternoon, grabbed this one because it was near the top of the Harlequin print pile, and proceeded to inhale it in one sitting.

Elle St. James is a poor little rich girl whose father has installed her as CEO of the family business.  Not because he believes in her. Perish the thought! Because her step-brother, Apollo Savas, is dismantling her father's empire brick by brick.  When the old man's empire faltered, Apollo swooped in like a savior, only to reveal his true identity - that of avenging angel.  Daddy St. James done him wrong, done his mother wrong, and now the man must pay.  Their parents married when Elle and Apollo were teenagers, and the sexual tension between them has always been thick.  Instead of acting on it, it has taken the form of sarcasm and back-biting - which honestly is half the fun of this story.  Apollo is a proto-typical Presents ass, but gods bless Elle - this girl can certainly dish it out.

What tends to happen in Presents stories happens here.  Apollo wants his revenge, Elle is conveniently standing right in front of him, there's all this delicious Enemies to Lovers tension clinging to the pages - well of course his pants are going to fall off and oopsie doodle...over and over again.  But will Apollo be able to set aside his blind quest for revenge, especially when Elle ends up pregnant?

This is pretty standard Presents fair.  Apollo is an ass and frankly needed to crawl over broken glass and grovel - which makes it highly annoying that there's no grovel to speak of in this book.  What kept this book from flying across the room, and what tends to make Yates' Presents highly addictive, is that the heroines tend to have just as much fire as the heroes.  Elle has underlying vulnerabilities, but this kitten has claws and draws blood even when Apollo is painting her into a corner.  She's got gumption and I love gumption.

So if there's no grovel, and Apollo is an ass - what saves this book?  Yates can write.  And she writes stuff about forgiveness and love and sacrifice over the course of the final chapters that are...well, there's depth here.  The kind of depth that naysayers of "those trashy Harlequins" think the format lacks because it merely exists and people like to read them (readers like Harlequins ergo they must have absolutely no merit at all).

Is it perfect? Well, no. Apollo, his need for revenge, and him using Elle to get said revenge are nothing if not problematic  But the epilogue is perfection - showing the couple 10 years later, with Elle living her best damn life and they're still blissfully in love - even despite the complicated baggage.  Yes, Apollo is an ass.  And yes, Elle plays the role of the good woman who thaws his frosty heart, but it sings from page one to the last sentence and I don't feel the least bit guilty inhaling this in one sitting.

Final Grade = B-

Thoughts on the Future of the #TBRChallenge

The #TBRChallenge has been floating around Romancelandia for a lot of years and in 2012 I took over hosting duties.  I wanted to keep it alive and frankly it was a way to force myself into reading something out of my giant horde of books at least once a month.

However, times they are a-changing.  Blogs are starting to dry up (for various and sundry reasons), more readers are migrating to social media platforms and podcasts, and even though my hosting tenure has birthed a hashtag (#TBRChallenge) - our numbers have dwindled down to a loyal few.  Also, to be perfectly blunt, while I'm still holding on to this blog by my fingernails, my life has changed quite a bit since 2003 and the time I can devote to blogging ain't what she used to be. Reading to theme (even though the themes are optional) and getting reviews up on a specified day - it's hard even for me, and I'm hosting this thing.

But I don't want to just kill the #TBRChallenge like I'm some Supreme Romancelandia Overlord.  I'm proposing a slightly altered version for 2020:

1) Participants commit to reading out of their TBR at least once a month (1 book? 25 books? Whatever!)

2) Reviews/commentary can be posted at any time during the month.

3) No provided themes.  But participants should feel free to create their own (ex. I'm toying with the idea of doing an All Harlequin Print TBR Challenge...)

4) Use the #TBRChallenge hashtag on your blog/social media etc.

For those of you who have been participating regularly, does this sound like a welcome change or a terrible idea?  And for those of you who have never or sporadically participated - do these changes sound like something that may tip you into joining the fray?

Opinions welcome.